Assessment drives learning: An unavoidable truth?

The debate around which factors drive medical students' learning is ongoing and controversial. What is the influence of an assessment's weighting on the motivation of students to study the particular subject? One medical school in London is in a unique position to investigate this question. At our institution, the weighting of Anatomy within the overall scheme of assessment has changed twice in recent years, a trend of increased weighting. This enabled a comparative investigation into the effect these changes have had on the students' motivation to learn Anatomy. A five‐point Likert‐scale questionnaire survey was used to evaluate students. A section within a broad survey of Anatomy teaching and learning at our institution was dedicated to the evaluation of the amount of weighting Anatomy received within the assessment structure and the effect this had on students' motivation toward learning the subject. Increasing Anatomy's weighting within the scheme of assessment produced a dramatic increasing trend toward students' motivation to learn Anatomy. The weighting of Anatomy has a profound effect on students' motivation to learn it. Although multifactorial and complex in nature, medical students' self‐reported drive to study a subject is directly influenced by the weighting of the subject in the overall scheme of assessment. Anat Sci Educ 2:199–204, 2009. © 2009 American Association of Anatomists.     

Kinematic analysis of the double side kick in pointfighting,kickboxing

The double side kick is a frequently used technique in pointfighting on which most offensive kicking techniques are based on. The aim of the study was to identify parameters, e.g., trunk and leg positions, durations and velocities that affect successful technique execution.

44 fighters, male and female, including European and World champions, participated in the research. The participants performed double side kicks to a punching bag with the target at chest level. 10 international experts scored (1–10 points; interrater correlation ICC (3,1): 0.952) videos of the best individual trial for quality of technique execution. Based on the average of the scores participants were categorised into 2 equally sized groups. For kinematic data acquisition, a Vicon 3D-motion capturing system was used. The normalised knee height of the kick leg (KHK), normalised absolute distance to the frontal shoulder (DKS) at the end of both chambering phases, the horizontal velocity during both chambering phases (KEV), the durations of all 6 functional phases and total duration, were analysed.

KHK1, KHK2, DKS1 and DKS2, total duration as well as 4 out of 6 phase durations and KEV1 showed significant differences between groups in two-sided t-test or Mann–Whitney U-test for not normally distributed variables.     

Refractive temperature

Refraction tables used in navigation and surveying are almost all derived from those of Bessel, whose computations, based on English star observations, assume that atmospheric temperature decreases with height at the rate of about 0.6 F.° per 1,000 ft. Neither this assumption nor that of any subsequent investigator is entirely in accord with present-day knowledge of atmospheric structure, which generally has a temperature decrease of around 3 F.° per 1,000 ft. to the tropopause, with widely varying conditions above it. The Bessel tables in general use cannot be extrapolated for surface air temperatures much different from 50° F.; in particular, for extreme cold conditions it is desirable to use, in place of the actual air temperature, the refractive temperature, which is that temperature for which the refraction correction given in the tables equals the correction which is actually required, and which may be estimated from general climatic considerations.     

Reading assessments for students with ASD: a survey of summative reading assessments used in special educational schools in the UK

Schools have an obligation to assess the literacy skills of their students, and the provision of reading instruction to students includes the ability to measure progress in this area. However, the design of reading tests includes the ability not only to read words, but also the ability to verbalise them. This presents a particular challenge for practitioners working with students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) who can be nonverbal in many cases. How this issue is generally overcome is currently unknown. A survey was developed, in the form of an online multiple‐choice questionnaire, in order to determine which tests are currently being used in the UK to assess the reading abilities of nonverbal students, and to examine the opinions of the education practitioners who use them, in relation to their suitability. Using the schools web directory, e‐mail invitations were sent to 1,050 special educational needs schools across the UK, and 70 schools responded to the invitation. Respondents suggested that the majority of practitioners hold little faith in the ability of current reading assessments to provide an accurate picture of reading ability for students with ASD, and this holds particularly true for nonverbal pupils with ASD. One purpose of education assessment is to establish a baseline of students’ ability in order to plan for lifelong learning and achievement. If there is an inability on the part of schools accurately to assess the reading abilities of nonverbal students with ASD, then it would be fair to assume that this could have a negative impact on the provision of learning opportunities for this population.